Short answer: Wheel and V-rakes are cheap, fast, and fine for grass hay where leaf loss doesn’t matter much. Rotary rakes cost 3–5× more, run slower, but preserve alfalfa leaf and build a more uniform windrow — the right call for high-value forage. Pick by the crop you’re raking, not by sticker price. Brand-by-brand operator notes are below.
If you mow hay, you rake hay. The rake choice is the most underrated decision in the forage workflow — it controls how much leaf you save, how fast the windrow dries, whether you can rake the same day you bale, and how clean your bale geometry will be.
The brochures don't help you decide. What helps you decide is a real-time, multi-operator conversation that happened on AgTalk in May 2026, comparing V-rakes, rotary rakes, and wheel rakes for a small grass-alfalfa hay operation in central Minnesota.
This article is that conversation distilled, with the verbatim quotes you can cite back to the original thread.
The three rake families in 30 seconds
There are four categories of pull-type hay rake in common North American use. (Bar rakes and side-delivery rakes are a fifth and sixth, but they're niche enough now that we'll mention them only briefly.)
| Rake type | How it works | Typical width | Typical price (new) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheel rake (ground-driven) | Crowded ground-driven wheels in a V or straight line; teeth raking action from rolling contact | 12–30 ft | $7K–$25K |
| V-rake (hydraulic V wheel rake) | Same wheel-tooth action as wheel rake, but two hydraulically positioned wings | 20–32 ft | $15K–$45K |
| Rotary rake (single or double rotor) | PTO-driven horizontal rotors with arms; cam-controlled teeth sweep through hay | 12–25 ft | $20K–$80K |
| Bar rake (side-delivery, basket rake) | PTO-driven horizontal reels | 8–12 ft | $5K–$15K |
For most hay operations in North America today, the decision is between wheel rakes / V-rakes (the dominant low-maintenance choice) and rotary rakes (the European-style, higher-precision choice for high-value alfalfa).
What real operators said
The thread that prompted this article was a central-MN operator running a grass-alfalfa mix on a New Holland HT152 V-rake, considering a switch to a rotary. Three operators replied with usable cross-experience data. Here's what they said.
Gearclash, Sioux County NWIA — "Last resort"
"Using a rotary rake would be an option of last resort for me. I would first look at your conditioning system and look at how wide your swath is coming out of the mower. If you have good conditioning and the swath is about 50% of mower cutting width, you should be able to quit using a tedder as they create problems for raking. My personal preference for a hay rake is a Vermeer Twinrake. There are wheel rakes out there that will do as well and do it faster in specific conditions but the hydraulic V rakes can operate acceptably in a wider range of conditions.
Never rake dew into hay. I would rather rake a little on the dry side and lose a few leaves."
That second paragraph is the most important sentence in this whole article. The dew-vs-leaf-loss tradeoff is real, and the leaf side wins.
Tomcat, Ludington/Manistee MI — "Rotary = wrench time"
"Rotary rakes shine when you are bored and want to spend more time wrenching. Last 3 years we've had both a Vee and a rotary around. The Vee see's way more acres."
This is the maintenance side of the argument. Rotary rakes have more moving parts under load, more cam-and-roller assemblies, and more places where bearings can fail. A simple wheel rake or V-rake has wheels and tines — there's not much to break.
Curious, NW IA — "470 PTO RPM for optimum performance"
"I have read opinions on this site that rotary rakes strip leaves. My Krone has failed to accomplish that feat in all conditions, such as the times when you are forced to rake alfalfa (and occasionally red clover in my case) when too dry due to an approaching rain event.
I will mention that when I bought the rake the dealer told me that optimum performance was at 470 PTO RPM's and I've always kept that as the maximum speed I will run."
This is the technical key for rotary rake operators most people miss. Standard 540 PTO is too fast for most rotary rakes. At full RPM with high ground speed, you'll strip leaves. Throttle back to ~470 (which is what the dealer training quietly tells everyone) and the rotary becomes a much gentler tool.
Angus8335, Galena IL — "Steel rolls + rotary rake = more leaf loss"
"I've been told if you have steel rolls in your mower a rotary rake will lose more leaves on the alfalfa than if you have rubber rolls."
This is contested in the same thread (Curious in NW IA reported the opposite — that steel rolls + rotary actually reduced his leaf loss). The honest answer is it depends on how the conditioner is set up. Tight, well-adjusted steel rolls are gentler on stems and leave more leaf intact; loose or worn steel rolls are harder on the crop than rubber. The mismatch between the two operators is probably about adjustment, not material.
When each rake actually wins
Wheel rake / V-rake wins for:
- Coarse-stemmed forage — meadow hay, prairie grass, straw, cornstalks
- Wide swaths — V-rakes scale to 30+ ft of effective width with relatively low HP
- Cost-per-acre operations — fewer moving parts, lower maintenance, lower fuel
- Less-than-ideal moisture — wheel rakes are more forgiving of suboptimal raking conditions
- Same-day cut-and-rake-and-bale operations — fast hookup, fast deployment, fast actual raking speed
The HT152 from the original thread is in this category. So is the Vermeer Twinrake (Gearclash's preference) and most Sitrex, H&S, Kuhn SR series, and similar machines.
Rotary rake wins for:
- High-value alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixtures — leaf retention is significantly better than wheel rakes on dry-side alfalfa, if RPM is controlled
- Fluffier windrows — better airflow under and through the windrow speeds dry-down; useful when you're trying to rake the night before baling
- Tight corners and small fields — rotary rakes follow the edge of irregular fields better than V-rakes
- Single-pass full-width rake — single rotor or double rotor can move 18–20+ ft of tedded hay cleanly in one pass
Krone, Kuhn (rotary line), Pequea, NH, and the European specialty brands are in this category.
Bar rake / side delivery — niche
Bar rakes are still around in small-acreage hay operations and gentle-on-leaves situations. They're slow, they're narrow, and they're cheap. If you have one and it works, keep it. Not the first choice for a new buyer.
The four operating rules every rake user should know
Across all three rake types, the AgTalk thread surfaced four rules that experienced hay operators agree on:
1. Never rake dew into hay
This came from Gearclash, but it's the universal rule. Hay that gets raked wet (dew, light rain, etc.) holds that moisture in the windrow far longer than it would in a wider swath. Raking the dewy bottom of a windrow up to the top doesn't help anything dry — it just buries the bottom-side wet hay where the sun can't reach.
Practical translation: rake after the dew lifts in the morning, never before. If you have to rake late in the day, finish before dew sets back in (usually 1–2 hours before sunset).
2. Same-day rake-and-bale is the default
Multiple operators in the thread confirmed: ideally, you rake the day you bale, not the day before. Hay raked into a tight windrow doesn't continue drying — the air can't get through it. Hay left in the swath continues drying for as long as conditions allow.
The exception (per k350024v, WNY) is light-crop, good-drying-weather operations where evening raking the day before doesn't cause problems. Don't generalize from there.
3. Wide swath off the mower-conditioner
If your swath leaving the mower is 50% or more of the mower's cutting width, you usually don't need a tedder (Gearclash again). Narrow swaths require tedding to dry; tedding adds a pass, adds leaf damage, and adds time. The cheap upgrade is to take the swath board off the mower-conditioner and lay the crop out wider.
4. Match PTO RPM to the rake
This is rotary-specific but worth its own line:
- Most rotary rakes are optimized around 440–470 PTO RPM at the gearbox input, not the 540 RPM standard
- Reading the operator's manual once will save you a season of unexplained leaf loss
- If you don't know what RPM your rake wants, call the dealer; the answer is usually under 540
What this has to do with net wrap
The rake choice controls windrow geometry — width, fluffiness, consistency. The baler turns that windrow into a bale. Inconsistent windrows → inconsistent bales → soft spots → spoilage and shape problems.
If you're losing bale shape during storage, the conversation usually starts at the baler but the actual root cause is often upstream. Our post on round bales not holding shape covers the baler-side fixes; the rake-side fix is consistent, even windrow width and density.
A good rake feeds a baler good material, and a good baler feeds good net wrap a bale worth wrapping.
What to actually buy
For most North American hay operations under ~500 acres of grass-alfalfa mix:
- First rake: a hydraulic V-rake in the 20–25 ft class. Vermeer, H&S, Sitrex, NH, Kuhn — all viable. The HT152 from the original thread is fine for this scale.
- Upgrade rake (when leaf retention dollars matter): a rotary rake from Krone, Pequea, Kuhn, or NH. Plan to run it at the lower RPM the dealer specifies. Plan for somewhat more maintenance.
- Specialty option (large alfalfa operations with high-end equipment programs): a double-rotor rotary. Larger acreage, faster ground speed, cleaner windrow geometry.
Whatever you buy, keep your tedder. Even with a great rotary rake, you'll occasionally want a teddering pass to recover from a surprise rain.
Bottom line
The V-rake / wheel-rake camp wins on acres per hour, maintenance cost, and weather tolerance. The rotary-rake camp wins on leaf retention and windrow geometry — when the operator runs them at the right RPM, on the right crop, in the right conditions.
The HT152 operator who started the original thread doesn't actually need to upgrade. They need to widen their mower swath and quit tedding light crops. That's the upgrade with the biggest dollar return.
If you do upgrade to rotary, run it at the dealer-specified RPM (not 540) and watch your leaf retention carefully on alfalfa. The rotary defenders in the AgTalk thread aren't wrong — they're just running them correctly.
Frequently asked questions
Should I buy a wheel/V-rake or a rotary rake?
Wheel and V-rakes are cheaper, faster, more weather-tolerant, and low-maintenance, which makes them the right call for grass hay, straw, and coarse forage where a little leaf loss does not matter. Rotary rakes cost three to five times as much and run slower, but they preserve alfalfa leaf and build a more uniform windrow. Pick by the crop you are raking, not by sticker price.
Do rotary rakes strip alfalfa leaves?
Only when they are run too fast. The standard 540 PTO speed is too fast for most rotary rakes; run them at the dealer-specified speed, often around 440 to 470 RPM, and leaf retention is excellent even on dry-side alfalfa. Operators who report leaf stripping are usually running full RPM at high ground speed.
What is the most important hay-raking rule?
Never rake dew into hay; rake after the dew lifts. Raking wet just buries the bottom-side moisture in the windrow where the sun cannot reach it. Where conditions allow, rake the same day you bale, and run a wide swath of at least half the mower's cutting width so you can skip the tedding pass that costs you leaf.
Written by the XES Netting team. We manufacture bale net wrap and read the farmer forums so the people doing the work can find clear, source-cited answers faster. Every quote in this post is verbatim with a source link — go read the originals.
Hero image: Lely 915 CD Vario Hibiscus hay rake — photo by Kim Hansen (Wikimedia user Slaunger) on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
